Passing the Carving Knife

We have carved pumpkins as a family since my eldest daughter was a baby. We've carried this tradition with us through the years, the fresh smell of pumpkin heralding the true arrival of fall. As the years march on, the comfort of repeating a treasured tradition is one of the things I most look forward to. However, there comes a point when it's time to make a change to alter a tradition to fit a new moment in life. This year found a gaggle of 13 year-old girls sprawled across my front porch, hard at work scooping guts and carving pumpkins.

This is the last year my daughter Francesca will spend at the school she has attended since she was 5 years-old. This group of girls has grown up together. Next year they will scatter to attend various high schools throughout Seattle. Because this was their last Halloween together, I wanted to make this year especially special. I took extra care to decorate the house with squash, displays featuring Day of the Dead figurines and traditional Mexican sugar skulls, and as many candles as I could find room for. It wasn't a scary house; it was a magical Halloween house, with girls in their costumes flitting in and out all afternoon. 

My extra effort didn't go unnoticed. More trick-or-treaters rang our doorbell than I'd ever seen. Parent after parent complimented our decorations, telling me they and their children had been drawn in by the twinkling lights and the festive atmosphere. Tradition is a great unifier. When there is warmth, love, a sense of community, and an open invitation to join in, you can feel it.

Incorporating Francesca's friends into our family Halloween tradition was a great joy. Keep your traditions close to your heart. But also keep refreshing them. You never know who might come knocking at your door.

Happy (belated) Halloween,

www.rosannainc.com

Fall Decor

Living seasonally opens up a world of opportunity when it comes to decorating. The bounty of harvest time offers a literal cornucopia of natural elements to enhance your home environment. During these months, I incorporate the rich reds, oranges, golds, and yellows of autumn into my home in as many ways as I can.

Fall is the perfect season to take full advantage of the nature in your backyard, and, more broadly, in your area of the country. For example, Washington State is famous for its gorgeous apples. We grow over 40% of the apples for the entire United States! To celebrate the bounty unique to my part of the country, I arrange apples in a large bowl or compote to make a living centerpiece. (The other great thing about apples is that they last forever).

What grows best in your area? Perhaps if you live in the Midwest, you’ll decorate with dried corn. Or, if you’re in the Northeast, you could fill your house with bouquets of flaming fall foliage.

Pumpkins, whole or carved, are a must-have for every part of the country. Also keep an eye out at your local farmer’s market for unusual squash varieties to take home for arrangement, display, and eventual consumption!

Another beautiful fall décor element that comes straight from nature are nuts. I buy assorted collections of nuts still in their shells, and then display them in a big bowl with a nut cracker (not the Christmas kind). A bowl filled with nuts of various textures and shades of brown creates a fall look that is both inviting and edible.

Remember to light candles! Votives, pillars, tapers, or tea lights enhance fall decorations with warmth and magic.

Here are some of my favorite spots to decorate to inspire your own visions of fall decor:

-The front stoop
-The front door
-The entryway/front hall
-The dining room table
-The living room coffee table
-The living room/family room mantle
-The kitchen island 

www.rosannainc.com

Easy as Blackberry Pie

Since my youngest daughter Francesca was a little girl she and I have repeated the same end of summer tradition. We pick blackberries and make pie. But his year we changed the tradition just a little. This year, Francesca made a pie by herself, crust and all. Yes, even a 13 year-old can bake a pie, from scratch, by herself. Guess what that means? You can too. Here’s how to make Francesca's After-School Blackberry Pie:

1. Add flour and salt to a food processor or mixer and combine.
2. Gradually add butter cubes and shortening into the mixture. Blend ingredients together until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal.
3. With motor or mixers on, slowly add the ice water until the dough forms a ball. If the dough doesn't do this, add a little more water.
4. Divide the dough into 2 equal-seized balls and wrap each in plastic wrap.
5. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

2. Combine the flour and 1 tbs butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Seat aside. 

3. Gently rinse blackberries under cold water in a strainer. Shake and pat dry, then transfer the blackberries to a large mixing bowl.

4. Add sugar or honey, the flour-melted butter mixture, and the cold, cubed butter to the berries. Stir gently, folding the ingredients until just combined. Careful not to crush the blackberries! Set bowl aside.

5. Remove dough balls from the fridge, unwrap, and place on a floured surface. 

6. Roll one ball into a 12 1/2-inch wide circle. Slip a greased pie pan under the dough and gently lift the dough into the pan. Fill with berry mixture.

7. Roll the second dough ball into a 12.5 inch circle and cut 2-inch-wide strips. Place the strips over the filling, first horizontally then vertically to form a checkerboard pattern. 

8. Pinch the edges of the strips to attach them to the bottom crust. 

9. Use your knuckle to form a fluted edge around the pie. Then sprinkle the dough latticework with 1 teaspoon of sugar. 

10. Bake pie for 1 hr, or until the filling has thickened and begun to bubble. The top crust will be golden-brown. Let cool for 1 hour. Slice and serve.  

If blackberries season has ended in your area, don’t worry. We’re just entering apple season!  The saying “easy as pie,” had to come from somewhere. So go ahead and try it; make a pie.

www.rosannainc.com

Simple text directions for Francesca's After-School Blackberry Pie:

Pie Crust Ingredients 

(makes enough for one 9-inch double crust pie)

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp finely ground sea salt

1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled

1/8 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup ice water  

1. Add flour and salt to a food processor or mixer and combine.

2. Gradually add butter cubes and shortening. Blend until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal.

3. With motor or mixers on, slowly add the ice water until the dough forms a ball. If the dough doesn't do this, add a little more water. 

4. Divide the dough into 2 equal-seized balls and wrap each in plastic wrap.

5. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.


Filling Ingredients  

1 tsp all-purpose flour

1 tbs melted butter

4 cups (or 2 pints) blackberries, preferably wild!

1/2 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

1 cup sugar or honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

2. Combine the flour and 1 tbs butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Seat aside. 

3. Rinse blackberries under cold water in a strainer. Shake and pat dry, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.

4. Add sugar or honey, the flour-melted butter mixture, and the cold, cubed butter to the berries. Stir gently, folding the ingredients until just combined. Careful not to crush the blackberries! Set bowl aside. 

5. Remove dough balls from the fridge, unwrap, and place on a floured surface. 

6. Roll one ball into a 12 1/2-inch wide circle. Slip a greased pie pan under the dough and gently lift the dough into the pan. Fill with berry mixture.

7. Roll the second dough ball into a 12 1/2-inch circle and begin cutting 2-inch-wide strips. Place the strips over the filling, first horizontally and then vertically to form a checkerboard pattern. 

8. Pinch the edges of the strips to attach them to the bottom crust. 

9. Use your knuckle to form a fluted edge around the pie. Spring the dough latticework with 1 tsp of sugar. 

10. Bake pie for 1 hr, or until the filling has thickened and begun to bubble. The top crust will be golden-brown. Let cool for 1 hour. Slice and serve. 

Green Bean Salad

Eating seasonally is an essential part of living a healthy, mindful lifestyle. Whenever I go to the grocery store, or, better yet, the farmer's market, I draw inspiration to create new recipes from whatever produce is currently in season. Last week as I wandered through the produce aisle, I saw a bunch of beautiful green beans and decided, right then and there, to make a green bean salad. Here's another easy, fresh, and seasonal recipe for the collection:

1. Set a small saucepan of water to boil with one teaspoon of salt

2. Cut off the ends of the green beans and cut them in half.

3. When the water boils, add the green beans and cook until tender, 5-10 minutes.

4. Drain the beans and run cold water over them. Dry thoroughly

5. Pour into a large serving bowl. I use our Farmers’ Market or Pasta Italiana serving bowl.

6. Add tomatoes, green onions, garlic, and mozzarella to beans.

7. Drizzle olive oil over salad, dust with remaining tsp. of sea salt and toss.

8. Serve immediately or chilled. (But I like it at room temperature.)

www.rosannainc.com

Simple Text version:
Ingredients (serves 4)

1 lb fresh green beans, stems removed and chopped in half

1 pint fresh, ripe cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved (This is peak tomato season! Take advantage!)

1 bunch green onions, chopped coarsely, whites only

2 garlic cloves, minced finely

1 cup fresh baby mozzarella balls (roughly the same size as the cherry tomatoes)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp freshly ground sea salt

Directions

1. Set a small saucepan of water to boil with one teaspoon of salt

2. Cut off the ends of the green beans and cut them in half.

3. When the water boils, add the green beans and cook until tender, 5-10 minutes.

4. Drain the beans and run cold water over them. Dry thoroughly

5. Pour into a large serving bowl. I use our Farmers’ Market or Pasta Italiana serving bowl.

6. Add tomatoes, green onions, garlic, and mozzarella to beans.

7. Drizzle olive oil over salad, dust with remaining tsp. of sea salt and toss.

8. Serve immediately or chilled. (But I like it at room temperature.) 

Rosanna on iVillage

More exciting news!

iVillage is featuring me as a guest blogger throughout this next year. I'll be writing for iVillage once a week, using some well-loved posts from our blog as well as creating new content.

Go look at the first post!
Meet Rosanna Bowles 

www.rosannainc.com

Rosanna's Oregon Appearances!

TELEVISION APPEARANCES

9/20 KOIN Studio 6 4-5pm (CBS-Portland)

9/21 KGW Live at 7 7-8pm (NBC-Portland)

9/27 KVAL Noon News, 9/27: 12-1pm (CBS-Eugene)

BOOKSIGNINGS

9/23 - Kitchen Kaboodle

11:30a-1p

8788 SW Hall Blvd

Portland, OR 97223

503-643-5491

9/23 - Peggy Sundays

2-3p

7880 SW Capitol Hwy

Portland, OR 97219

503-246-8263

                  

9/24 - Lakeside Home and Gift

12:30-1:30p

101 A Ave Lake Oswego, OR 97034

503-974-9230

9/24 - Kitchen Kaboodle - NW 23rd Location 

 3p-4:30p

404 NW 23rd Ave

Portland, OR 97210

503-241-4040

9/25 - Shamrock Gifts and Flowers

11-12:30p

1520 Coburg Rd

Eugene, OR 97401

541-343-1717

9/25 - Dept Of The Interior Decorator Fabrics

2p-4p

23 Oakway Center

Eugene, OR 97401

541-302-3302

NEWSPAPER MENTIONABLES

9/23 Willamette Week 

Rosanna's book signing details will be displayed in the “Words” section of the Wednesday edition of Willamette Week.  http://wweek.com/events/latest/words

Register Guard 

Book signing details will run in “Events” section of the Register Guard - look for Rosanna's profile and photos in the Home and Gardens section!

See you there! 

xoxo 

Celebrate The Tomatoes

This is it! Act now! It’s harvest time! Prime time for…

TOMATOES.

Sam Sifton’s marvelous ode to tomatoes and “valedictory meals” in the New York Times Sunday magazine inspired me to write my own ode to tomatoes.

My homemade late-summer tomato sauce rarely fails to fill hungry stomachs, and always pleases discerning palettes. The best part is that it is very simple to make. I am telling the truth.

Especially at this time of year, it is so important to make the most of the fresh food available. I can’t stress enough that cooking “from scratch” with fresh ingredients does not have to be difficult.  To prove it, here is a photographic step-by-step instruction guide to make…

Rosanna’s Late Summer Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

1 lb fresh, ripe, and juicy summer tomatoes

1 cup olive oil

1 bunch coarsely chopped green onions

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 tbs salt (preferably sea salt)

1 lb penne pasta

Steps

1. Wash tomatoes in a strainer
2. Set pot of water to boil, for the tomatoes

3.   Prep a bowl of ice water in the sink

4.   When water boils, plop one or two tomatoes in the pot. Leave for 3-5 min, until the skin begins to crack. Then remove tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place in the bowl of ice water.

5.   Put another pot of water to boil, for the pasta

6.   Peel the skin off the tomatoes. They should come off easily.

7.   Liquefy the peeled tomatoes in a food processor or blender.

8.  Chop green onions coarsely and garlic finely. Set aside.

9.    Pour olive oil into a large saucepan. Put on med heat and allow oil to warm.

10  Add green onions to saucepan, garlic a little after, and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes.

11  Add pureed tomatoes to oil and onions. If the sauce starts to boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 min.

12  Add 2 tbs. salt to sauce and stir

13  Let sauce simmer for at least 20 more minutes, but the more time the better. Add more salt to taste.

14  Add 2 tbs. salt to boiling pasta water. Then add penne pasta. Let pasta cook until firm but not crunchy, 12-15 min.

15  While the pasta is cooking, set the table. We used Cin Cin! glassware, Farmer’s Market bowls, and Napoleon pearlized copper flatware.

16   Drain pasta and ladle a portion of sauce into the empty pasta pot.

17  Pour pasta back into pot, ladle more sauce over the top of the pasta, and mix. Add more salt to taste.

18  Ladle pasta into bowls, and finish with salt, Parmesean cheese, or chopped fresh basil.

See? I told you it was easy.

Buon Appetitio!

www.rosannainc.com